1950 Hours Local
Light drizzle
Sunset/Twilight

It was late evening as people began arriving at the hoverport, an oasis of modernity (for TL7) in a rusting waterfront industrial district. Even so, algae and mold was starting to creep down walls from constant runoff, scrubbed at indifferently by Gog workers. Cargo lorries roared by.

4-armed, 4-eyed Gog porters unloaded scant bags from the cab at the terminal building. The passengers had to walk down the concrete wharf towards the giant cargo Ekranoplan tied off at slip 44. Piles of baggage and pallets of cargo awaited loading, teams of Gog stevedores working under human foremen to make their scheduled departure.

Lorain was waiting beside the boarding gangway, looking at her hand computer and checking items off. Water slapped against the docked Ekranoplan's hull. Out on the water, a cargo hovercraft roared by, motors echoing off the warehouses crowding the shoreline.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:40, Thu 08 Mar 2012.

Liisha arrived at the hoverport, her OD field pack and gear in tow.  Linus had told her this was the place where they would meet, for pick up and transport to Momonde.  Finding a bench, she sat down to watch the Gog workers.  She hadn't had much interaction with them, but from what she could tell, they were still primitive and parochial, despite the presence of humans on Miryan.

Her gaze shifted from the Gogs to the passengers moving through the terminal.  Some looked to be equipped for an expedition, as she was.  Liisha's eyes darted between all of them, looking for Linus.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:33, Thu 08 Mar 2012.

Ken continued the conversation through dinner and on the cab ride over.  "Yea, most of us in this hell hole are here between jobs.  I'm mustered out of the marines and looking for a bit of excitement."  He shook his head.  "I'll be glad to shake the damp and mold and humidity off my boots as soon as we are done with the job."

He walked next to her down the concrete wharf, bumping casually against her now and then.  "Hey look, a big sea plane.  I heard that they use these weird seaplanes that fly just a few meters off of the waves.  They get some kind of boost from the ground effect."  He smiled down at her, casually admiring her pleasant form.

Walking up the gangway he nodded to their patron;  "We about loaded Lorain?  Need any help?"

Linus arrived, wearing servicable hunter's clothing and carrying a pack. He looked round curiously, he didn't spend much time at the docks as what fish was caught was brought to market in the centre of town.

Spotting Lorain, he walked in that direction.

As Linus pulled up, Lorain put away the hand comp and waved Ken and Neva over.

"No, thanks! I think they have it under control. Ah, there's Linus now. Linus said he had a friend coming? I got her a ticket, too. Ah, there's Thomas."

She also noticed Thomas waiting out of the rain in a passenger shelter, baggage piled on the wooden bench. "Over here, guys! I have your boarding passes. It's about a four and-a-half hour trip to Val Preszar. Might as well find your seats."

Lorain handed out boarding passes to the group.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:24, Fri 09 Mar 2012.

The light was starting to fade.

Along the concrete pier were moored boats, small seaplanes and various other Ekranoplans. Off to the side was a series of ramps for hovercraft and GEVs and one roared down into the water in a white spray.

The massive Ekranoplan moored beside them had stubby wings to generate the wing-in-ground effect and a huge tail which mounted the single engine, a huge multi-bladed turbofan.

Everyone checked their non-carry-on baggage. They would be served food on the trip but there were also food carts (human) nearby, cooking food for the many hungry travellers and those waiting for their departure. Smells wafted up and seabirds circled overhead.

People filed down the short gangway up to the front passenger door in the side of the Ekranoplan. 2 Stewardesses in blue uniform (complete with pillbox hats) stood at the top, taking tickets and directing passengers to their seats. Inside it looked much like a typical atmospheric airliner or Ground-Orbit Transfer Vehicle (shuttle) with 2 rows of seats along a centre aisle, in different sections (they were in the cheapest class) with overhead storage for carry-on luggage. Passengers (all human) milled about, finding their seats and stowing their possessions.

In reply to Lorain Messandi (msg #31):

Thomas crushes his cigar out on his boot, and comes over to where Lorain is handing out boarding passes.

"Thank you, Ms. Messandi."

He checks his back pack, but carries a 1.2 meter long leather case onto the ship with him.  If stopped, he opens the case for inspection and offers to be searched, and run through a metal detector, or for the case to be x-rayed.

He has no ammunition on him or in the case.

In reply to Lorain Messandi (msg #31):

Neva smiles at Lorain when she picks up her boarding pass.  "Thanks."  She looked like she might have said more but instead allowed herself to be pulled away by the boarding people and getting her gear stowed. Soon it was time for her to get on board and find her seat.

Neva could feel the spark of excitement start to unfurl inside of her as she settled down for the ride.

Liisha found Linus and Lorain and introduced herself to everyone.  There were plenty of ”Pleased to meet you,” and “looking forward to working with you,” for everyone, both statements uttered with genuine sincerity.  With the pleasantries fulfilled, Laagir took her ticket and found her seat.  Not knowing what the op temp of the expedition might be, she got as comfortable as she could, intent on napping for the duration of the trip.

OOC: Sorry, I didn’t want to be the person who slowed down getting to the good stuff with a round of Hi, I’m Liisha.. to everyone.  So from here on, Liisha has met all the PCs, unless the Ref needs something different.  Thanks!
This message was last edited by the player at 17:31, Fri 09 Mar 2012.

The lack of political turmoil meant there was little threat of terrorism. Piracy and hijacking was rare for this kind of transport (but not unheard of for watercraft).

Therefore there was no metal detector, X-Ray or pat-downs. Still, weapons were not allowed in the passenger cabin. (That means no belt sheaths, hip or shoulder holsters, shotguns slung casually over shoulders, etc.) Thomas' case was politely searched by the Stews and the rifle case put in cargo (they don't take "no" for an answer).


OOC:  no need to draw out the intro. We're not even technically at the start line of Val Preszar, yet!

In reply to GM (msg #36):

Thomas packs his hunting knife in his rifle case.

Ken settles next to Neva for the trip.

2030 Local Time
Crossing the Central Sea


Soon, the Ekranoplan cast off and the engine started. It was fairly loud but not too bad, being far above and behind the passenger cabin.

They taxied out into the harbour. Off to the side they could see the Planetary Militia base, with an even larger version of the Ekranoplan was moored among the coastal patrol hydrofoils. It was grey and had banks of jet engines in front of the stub wings, bristling with massive anti-shipping missile tubes behind, and turrets with auto-cannons seemingly everywhere. This was their equivalent of maybe a heavy bomber or naval cruiser, the pride of the fleet.



Soon they were past the base and accelerating towards the open ocean. It was a smooth ride and they quickly reached cruising speed of 600kph. White wavetops whipped by around 10m below the windows and the engine noise became fainter.

The "NO SMOKING" light winked out and the cabin filled with the smell of cigarettes and pipes (tobacco was a major cash crop on Mirayn). Stewardesses started coming down the centre aisle with drink and snack carts (peanuts and cobbleberries also being major cash crops). Dinner would soon be served (chicken or indigenous fish) followed by an in-flight movie (a romantic comedy that was released a year ago in the nearby League but relatively new here).


GM Note: Post about being "in transit" if you like, but no big deal. You'll make it to VP at about 0100 Local.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:10, Sun 11 Mar 2012.

In reply to GM (msg #39):

Thomas partakes of the snacks and dinner, then pulls his hat down over his eyes and goes to sleep until it's time to depart the craft.

Ken chats with Neva and eats dinner.  He's not particularly interested in the movie.  If she watches it he'll nap and if not he'll chat further if she seems interested.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg #41):

Neva likes to spend the time chatting with Ken although she is careful not to reveal too much of her past.  She is still hesitant to reveal too much of herself but she had forgotten how nice it felt to just carry on a conversation with somebody without having to worry about the why they were talking to her.

About one hour into the flight she starts to yawn.  The food the warmth had filled her up and her body now was telling her to rest.

"I hope you don't mind Ken but I <yawn> need to rest a bit.  I've had a rough couple of days.  Don't take it personally but my body is telling me to sleep.  Can we pick up our conversation another time?

20 minutes later, Ken will find that Neva had slipped over against him when she fell asleep and was using his body as a pillow.

Ken enjoys the discussion with Neva.  When she slumps up against him during the sleep he sighs and wraps an arm around her.  Not long after he's gently snoring for the rest of the ride.

Liisha snags a couple of snacks for her cargo pockets, then sleeps through the meal and movie.

Linus never really liked travelling, so chimped down and waited to arrive at their destination.

0100 Hours Local
Val Presar Dockside

It was dark when the Ekranoplan glided up to the concrete slip.

The colonial city did not look very impressive in the dark. Unlike the capitol, there did not seem to be any skyscrapers and relatively little vehicle traffic or foot traffic, although there were a few streetlights.

When the cabin exit doors were opened, warm humid tropical air flooded in. The passengers filed out and flagged down the myriad of small motor and Gog-powered vehicles waiting for them. Gogs were pulling rickshaws and pedi-cabs, while humans drove a handful of taxis, vans and small pickup trucks. Common was a kind of small transport mating the front wheel and motor of a motor-scooter with a rear bench over 2 wheels.

Everyone reclaimed their baggage inside the shoddy 2-story brick terminal building. Rather than have people join the scrum to arrange transport (which involved a lot of haggling and negotiation) Lorain told everyone to wait on the benches in front.

"Wait here please. I had some transportation arranged to the hotel."


Lorain got her bearings, then walked away in the direction of some warehouses a block away, then she disappeared from sight around the corner.

By then all the other passengers had cleared out of the terminal and only a few vehicles and drivers (all Gogs) remained in front by the main entrance, smoking cigarettes and long Gog pipes under the lights and eyeing them. The Gogs were dressed in ragged shorts and vests/sleeveless shirts (other human clothing didn't fit) and wearing sandals or barefoot.

Time passed. After about ten minutes of seeing no fares, the dozen ragged-looking Gog drivers started drinking something fermented-smelling from concealed bottles, still checking out the stranded-seeming travellers.

The few street and building lights, some dim and others flickering, did little to dispel the moist tropcal gloom. Val Preszar didn't smell too badly, thank God, but there was a definite smell of vehicle exhaust and smoke from cooking fires.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:41, Mon 19 Mar 2012.

In reply to GM (msg #46):

After a few minutes of standing around, Walker rubs his face.

"Linus, I want to go to the Men's room.  I'll be right back."

Walker does not simply leave the group, but stands waiting for a response.

In reply to GM (msg #46):

Neva nodded as Lorain told everybody to wait.  She stretched her legs and back while she had a chance and managed to stay relatively close to Ken. She looked around at the others who were in her group, finally being able to see them for the first time.

Ken shook his head as Lorain walked off.  "Hey, wait Lorain, it's not necessarily safe."

<ooc> Can Ken have headed after her right as she left? </ooc>

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg #49):

As Lorain left, Ken jogged after her, and they both disappeared around the corner.

Thomas knew there was a W/C inside the dimly-lit, shabby terminal building.

"I don't like this... what's happened to Lorain?"

Linus looks worried. At least Ken went with her.

"OK, Thomas. There's one in the terminal. Be quick. I'm not happy hanging about here."

It just felt wrong, nothing he could put a finger on.